Songworks Tips and Shortcuts

• (1) To switch from one staff to another quickly, just click on any item in the new staff. That's faster than moving the mouse to click a different staff handle. Another way to switch staves is to use the up and down arrow keys, but clicking on an item in the desired staff is the most convenient when editing.
• (2) If you have deleted an item and want to replace it with another, just click in the keys of the on-screen keyboard using the desired symbol. Or play a MIDI note. Deleting a symbol puts the insertion point where it used to be, and playing a note will always enter the currently chosen symbol at the current insertion point. Sometimes this is the best way to insert notes in a tight spot. If the passage's notes are close together it might be hard to click between two of them with the new note symbol - if the click is close enough to an existing note the new note will be added to its stem instead of being inserted before it.
• (3) Using Sketch Mode will greatly speed up editing - perhaps making some operations in large files hundreds of times faster. If you use version 2.09's Sketch Mode in a large file, things look better if you temporarily set the note spacing to a larger value to "open the score up" a little. This is to keep notes of small value from appearing too close together, and to make editing easier. You can always change the notespacing again after you've done all your editing.
• (4) When playing a part on the letter keys using Active listening, remember the proper technique for playing computer keys as a musical instrument: use two fingers, alternating from one to the other, and don't lift them much - try to keep the amount of movement small and you'll find it much easier to play fast passages. Every instrument has its own technique, and though this one is particularly easy to play (what other instrument can be set to hit the right pitches automatically?) it, too, has something to be mastered.
• (5) If you get lost when doing an Active listening part, one way to get back on track is to stop playing and wait until the computer stops to wait for you, as it will at the first convenient place. Then start tapping notes again, and it will join you at the right time.
• (6) Don't forget to take advantage of these quick ways to change a symbol or group of symbols already entered in the staff.
• a. To change pitch of a note or group of notes, select the note(s), hold down the shift key, and then play the desired pitch or pitches either on the screen keyboard, the letter keys, or a MIDI keyboard. If changing a group of notes, they will change one at a time as you play the new pitches. It doesn't matter if rests or barlines are included in the selection; they'll be ignored.
• b. To change any staff symbol to a different one of the same type (such as treble clef to bass clef, key signature to a different key signature, note to a different vallue of note, etc.) just select the item or items and then choose the desired new symbol from the selection above the on-screen keyboard.
• c. To add or remove a sharp or flat from a note or notes already entered, select the note(s) and then choose the desired sharp or flat from the selection above the on-screen keyboard.
• d. To make a "precautionary" sharp or flat (one that isn't really needed except as a reminder) hold down the option key as you do step "c." This will tell the program to print that sharp or flat even if it's redundant.

• (7) It is a good idea, when entering multitrack music in a single staff, to lay down track one first and then add the other parts to the notes of track one. Songworks will switch to track one automatically whenever you try to place a note past the right edge of the existing music, but that might take you by surprise: it's better to be aware of the tracks so track one, at least, is a coherent part.

  In any musical composition at least one voice in the staff must be complete: it must fully take up all the time of each measure. Songworks allows you to make incomplete secondary voices by placing additional notes, but these do not affect the time of the measure, which is defined by "track one."

  Because secondary voices do not necessarily make a consistent voice by themselves, they do not copy and paste well. You can drag-select a group of notes in a secondary track, but if you then copy and paste them they will not necessarily come out as expected, because the notes they depended on for timing are missing. You should copy the entire structure of the passage, including track one.

• (8) To select all of the contents of a passage, including notes in secondary tracks, activate track one (either click on a note in track one or else click on the first staff handle - when in track one all notes and rests in the staff will appear in black), and then use the shift-click method of selection: click to the left or right of the passage, then hold down the shift key and click on the other side of the passage. This selects absolutely everything in that passage, regardless of track. This way you don't have to drag a selection rectangle a long distance, and you are assured of not missing anything.